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This paper analyzes the possible demographic factors which contribute toward HIV awareness and beliefs among women in a southern state of India. The assumption is once the threats of AIDS are recognized and group consciousness raised, there is some hope that agency will be cultivated among women. The data for this paper comes from National Family Health Survey-2, collected in 1999. The survey administered by International Institute of Population Studies, Mumbai includes a sample of 4,032 women, married at least once in their lifetime, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Logistic regression was used to predict the effects of education, relationship to head of household, age, religious beliefs, ethnicity, basic economic status and place of residence on AIDS awareness and beliefs. Overall findings suggest the importance of education, economic status, ethnic origin and religiosity in contributing toward AIDS knowledge and beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the gendered dimension of HIV stigma within the particular social context of India. Building up on the multiple status contingencies of women in India based on class, caste or geographical location, women's lived experiences with HIV is not the same. Using John Braithwaite's "Shaming Theory" and Pierre Bourdieu's notion of "Cultural Capital" this paper introduces the gendered, culture and community aspects of lived experiences of HIV within a local milieu, therefore providing foundation for fundamental analogies and contrasts with the global parlance for future research. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at some gendered and ethnic dimensions associated with the aging process among the Hispanic elderly -the actual living arrangements and patterns of cohabitation. The patterns of cohabitation refer to who the elderly live with -- spouse, children or other relatives. The data for this study comes from National Survey of Hispanic Elderly People, which is an extension of the original National Survey of Problems Facing Elderly Americans Living Alone, compiled in 1986 and includes Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, Hispano-Spanish and other ethnic minorities in the sample. The study used Pearson's Chi Square Tests of Significance to determine the probable association between the demographic variables and corresponding living arrangements. Findings denote some significant effects of ethnicity, gender and marital status on actual living arrangements as well as patterns of cohabitation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defining Women in American and Indian Prime Time is an in depth analysis of viewer's perceptions of the roles played by women on prime time, in two different cultural settings. The research is directed towards respondents with two different media and cultural experiences. The first are interviewees who are simply familiar with American prime time and the second are those who are acquainted with both the American and the Indian content. The research questions address specifics of representations associated with the American and the Indian media: the roles women play on prime time, whether the viewers can associate with the characters, possible difference between prime time representations and reality as well as possible overlaps between ways of reading media's constructions of femininity in these culturally different stage sets. Findings in the study acknowledge more similarities in analyzing gender reproductions between viewers familiar with American and Indian media, rather than distinct perceptions of gender images in the respective cultural settings. Most of the overlaps in observing gender representations on prime time have evolved from the viewer's unconscious narration of media experiences rather than categorically referring to the similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the factors affecting attitudes towards individuals living with AIDS, among an all women sample in India. This paper specifically takes into consideration women's attitudes towards- (1) all individuals living with AIDS and (2) women living with AIDS. The data for this paper comes from National Family Health Survey-2, collected in 2005-06 consisting of approximately 124,400 respondents from all states and regions of the nation. The independent variables include several demographic predictors (age, religiosity, place of origin in the country, urban/non urban location, marital status, scheduled/caste and tribe affiliation and number of children), socio-economic status indicators (education, standard of living index and whether respondent has electricity) and AIDS awareness levels. The dependent variable for analysis includes a factor measure generated from 4 indicators on tolerance towards individuals living with AIDS. Findings from the two separate OLS regression models suggest a gender neutral pattern of AIDS attitudes towards all individuals (men and women both) who live with condition. These include the effects of region, religion, education, residence economic well being, work status, number of children and AIDS based beliefs. In comparison, women's tolerance towards other women living with AIDS implies the unique effects of age, religion (Christianity) and literacy. This research can be regarded as the preliminary delineation of a stigma process that originates from women, and seeks to incorporate the all men sample from the survey for a broader gendered comparison of AIDS attitudes in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks into the determinants of AIDS stigma in the United States during its early onset. While available literature provides an understanding of some of the early patterns, little research has integrated AIDS based prejudice with attitudes towards health policy. The data for this research comes prior to the Ryan White CARE Act which when passed in 1990, provided care for those living with HIV and AIDS (Siplon, 2002). This research looks at the likely predictors of HIV based stigma during its early years, with a particular emphasis on attitude towards health policy perpetrating/limiting HIV based stigma. The data for the paper comes from the 1988 GSS, which is nationally representative samples collected by the National Opinion Research Center. The purpose of this research is to explore the possible predictors of AIDS stigma during Pre-Ryan White Care days in America. Two different logistic regression models is used for analysis-the first taken into consideration basic demographic and socio economic predictors and the second more elaborate model factors in attitude on disability benefits in predicting attitude towards endorsing sanctions against HIV positive individuals. The findings of this study communicate mixed findings. First two of the important predictors (religion and concern for health care costs) consistent with published literature were significant in the study. Second, other less obvious demographic predictors significantly determined the attitude of the respondents with regards to whether AIDS patients should wear ID tags. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at a less discussed aspect of family violence, which reverses the generic pattern of gendered victimization in intimate partner violence--men as victims. This paper analyzes emergent trends and patterns of men's victimizations generated by two purposively selected sample of (1) newspaper articles selected by students enrolled in an undergraduate family violence class (2) a pilot study of newspaper articles from the last five years in the Star Telegram and Houston Chronicle analyzed by the researcher. The focus of the current research is to examine the crucial differences and similarities between contributors and circumstances leading to men's victimization in family violence. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With nearly one in every four women becoming a victim of domestic violence at some point during her lifetime, domestic violence may no longer be shrouded under the cloak of personal matters deemed sacred and private. The initial purpose of this study was to determine the effect of race and socioeconomic status on female victimization and injury. Sociological literature has consistently displayed a relationship between the two, and this study is not especially different. To begin with, we find that Blacks had a higher probability of being victimized than non-Blacks, similar to Rennison's (2001) finding that African Americans experienced domestic violence at a much higher rate over a five year period than other groups. Additionally, debts, included under the label of socioeconomic status, emerged as a significant variable impacting female victimization rates. Analogizing the amount of debts to receiving public assistance (see Tolman and Raphael 2000) and being in economic distress, clarifies and reinforces the positive association between poverty and crime/delinquency. Therefore, it is no longer surprising that "violence is one of the few options available to those without the economic means to deal with problems and crises of everyday life" (Parker 1989: 986). ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research objective: In India of the 109, 349 cases of AIDS which have been reported in 2005, 31,982 are women (http://www.avert.org/aidsindia.htm). Besides the rapid rise of HIV as a disease among women in India, their experiences with stigma (if any) and coping mechanisms associated with contracting the virus, are relatively unexplored yet pertinent area of discussion. This paper would explore the probable association between stigmatizing HIV positive women and women's pathways to what is designated as "criminal". For sex workers HIV stigma might denote a continuation of unsafe sex practices while for other women, prostitution might be a means to secure a living if other known methods of survival are forbidden. Theoretical considerations: Braithewaite defines two kinds of labels and stigma which has the potential of altering deviant behavior among men and women. Integrative shaming helps reduce recidivism while disintegrative shaming, or out casting a particular social group reproduces deviance. In the context of a HIV positive status with moral undertones, disintegrative shaming might actually push women to limited life choices and moral crimes. Recommended Methodology: Content analysis. A sample of major Indian newspapers with reports on HIV and AIDS will be selected for this purpose from 2001 to 2005. The pieces which actually talk about stigmatizing experiences and outcomes, will be examined in the process. These include The Hindu, The Indian Express, The Telegraph and Times of India. While some of these are more regional, others cater to a national population. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lived experience of HIV is a relatively unexplored yet imminent concern, given the endemic and epidemic character of the disease worldwide. This paper analyzes three theoretical dimensions to the victimization of the global HIV positive population, within the broader context of social stigma: essentially the association of HIV with social deviance with repercussions on social control mechanisms and corresponding legal entitlements of the victimized segment My research takes into consideration three levels of the stigma syndrome: rationale for perpetration, degrees of resistance and presence or absence of intervention. Durkhiems concept of collective consciousness and retributive justice gives a direction to the verdict on HIV as a moral crime. Marxian notion of social class and legal fetishism, accounts for the alienation of the positive population from their legal entitlements, and perpetuation of victimization. Finally Donald Blacks idea of integration and social control, discusses the slim interest of the legal machinery with the peripheral and victimized social groups. My specific research questions include: 1.Is perpetration of stigma a function of collective consciousness and social retribution? 2.Is HIV construed as a class disease? What is the function of social class in the legal and cultural fetishism of the HIV positive population, which interferes with individual stigma management capacities? 3.Is there a relationship between the perceived marginal character of the HIV positive population, and, inadequate legal measures against stigma perpetration? Does the scope of legal injustice increase in societies with more informal and less formal control? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]